The Top Trends That Will Shape Social Entrepreneurship in 2010

Looking back on 2009, it seems clear that the uncertainty of the global economy combined with the general maturation of the social entrepreneurship space made it something of a building year. I believe that 2010 will begin to materialize some of the innovations that people spent 2009 clearing the way for, with significant long-term consequences. All in all, I'm far more excited about the coming year than I was about the last.

The most common critique I have of myself looking back at my predictions from last year is that I failed to recognize how many of them were in line for a gestation period before the really significant changes. I think that my Trend #5: Mobile Platforms and Trend #3: Blended Value Investing definitely ended up having a building period last year. White House partnership on social entrepreneurship was even more behind the scenes, and it's still unclear exactly who is going to benefit from the Social Innovation Fund.

All that said, I think that 2010 will be explosive, and lead the way into a 2011 that sees a deeper mainstreaming of a sort of blended, "thick value," vision of capitalism driven by a whole new generation of startups and re(start)up approaches from established companies.

Over the course of this week, I'll be adding a new entry to the list of the top trends that will shape social entrepreneurship in 2010 each day.

#5: Online Action Moves Away From Just Donations - Nonprofits are constantly getting smarter about how to use online platforms to engage with their supporters, but I believe that it's only just now that we're starting to see the full potential of using online platforms to engage people for new types of action beyond donations. View full writeup of "Top Trend 2010 #5: Online Action Beyond Donations"

#4: Coworking and Startup Incubation - As being "online" increasingly becomes the norm, people will thirst for offline community, accelerating the trends towards coworking spaces and place-based startup incubation programs. View full writeup of "Top Trend 2010: #4: Coworking and Startup Incubation"

#3: Sector Blending: I predict that in 2010, the sector blending that is remixing the idea of social entrepreneurship through the lens of design, technology, and other fields will continue, adding shape, context, and scale to social innovation. View full writeup of "Top Trend 2010 #3: Sector Blending"

#2: Regional Innovation Systems: As the social entrepreneurship space matures, there is an emerging emphasis on building local and regional ecosystems that have the actors and assets needed to help entrepreneurs build. View full writeup of "Top Trend 2010 #2: Regional Innovation Ecosystems."

#1: Creativity in Seed Stage Funding: The world is already being disrupted. The question is whether we can be innovative enough to turn that in our favor. I think the most important trend that will shape social entrepreneurship in the next year is creativity in seed funding. View full writeup of "Top Trend 2010 #1: Creativity in Seed Stage Funding."

(Photo: vramak)